Time and Space
by Eureka2000
Summary: While out walking one night, 18-year-old Zanna Sterling encounters a mysterious man in a blue box. After he helps her and her brother escape from a Weeping Angel, she decided to find out more about him, and soon she gets dragged into an adventure she least expected. Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor who. The BBC does.
1. Time and Space

Time and Space - Part 1

It was a rainy, miserable afternoon in November, and Zanna Sterling was walking home from work. She worked at a comic book store in downtown Toronto. It was one of those hole-in-the-wall type places that were easy to miss. Business hadn't been any good in the past few months and her boss was beginning to get uneasy. The employees were uneasy too, and for good reason. As the number of customers was shrinking, so were the employee paychecks. The reason was that her boss could only spread the amount of money the business was making so far, as he also had to pay rent for the part of the building which the store was in, as well as the shipments that were arriving each month and a few renovations here and there. Earlier that day, Zanna even heard her boss telling his wife that the store may end up going out of business. Zanna thought it was a shame; she really liked working at Comic Enterprises, as the store was called. Perhaps she could come up with a few ideas to maybe put some life back into the comic book store, but so far, nothing came to mind.

She dragged her feet through puddles of mud and slush, adjusted her shabby old jacket and tightened the long, black scarf that wrapped twice around her neck and cascaded down to her knees. She could have gotten a new jacket if it wasn't for the pitiful paycheck she got every week. Things were never that bad at the comic book store when she first began working there. She worked there ever since she quit school when she was sixteen. It was the only business that would take her because of that (also because she was horrendous at job interviews). She quit because there were girls at her school who were out to get her for some reason, on top of making enemies of a few staff members. She quit after things started to get pretty bad there. After that, she began taking online courses and earned her grade twelve diploma that way. Now, she was waiting for her acceptance letter into University. The letter should have come five days before. "Meh, it'll come eventually," she thought, looking up and turning sharply towards the apartment building where she lived.

As she approached the building, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye, but she quickly dismissed it as an optical illusion. She trudged into the apartment building and took the stairs up to the seventh floor. She wandered down the hall and approached a door with the number six on the front, precisely level with her eyes. She quickly rapped on the door.

"Echo," she called; "You have to let me in. I forgot the keys to the apartment again."

"Every freaking time!" came an irritated voice from the other side of the door. The door opened to reveal a girl with long, dark hair and brown eyes. She looked like she had to be at least nineteen years of age. "You really need to remember your keys from now on," she said; "What if I wasn't home?"

"Well, you were home," Zanna retorted.

"What if I wasn't," Echo nagged.

"You were."

Echo sighed and let Zanna into the apartment. "How was work," she asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"They're thinking of going out of business," Zanna grumbled. Removing her soaking wet shoes and kicking them to the side.

"Seriously" Echo exclaimed. Zanna nodded, falling into a nearby chair. Suddenly, Echo's expression lightened.

"What," Zanna ventured, staring up at her.

"You got a letter from the University," Echo announced; "Maybe it's good news."

"Oh, good," Zanna exclaimed; "I could use some good news right now."

She tore open the letter and began reading it out loud: "Dear Ms. Sterling; we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the engineering program at …." She paused with a look of surprise. "HOLY CRAP," she shouted, jumping out of her seat and beginning to pace the floor. Echo laughed.

"I've been accepted," Zanna exclaimed, showing Echo the letter.

"That's awesome," Echo said, hugging Zanna. "I think this calls for a celebration. How about pizza and a scary movie?"

"Sounds great," Zanna replied, nodding her head; "Thanks."

They waited for Echo's boyfriend, Luke, to come home. He was working late again. He always works late. They ordered their pizza and watched a few scary movies. After that, Zanna decided to go out for a walk. She put on her coat and boots and took the stairs to the front doors of the building. It was cold that evening, and the sidewalks were soaking wet. Zanna had to be careful so she wouldn't slip. Zanna couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to be somewhere else. She rarely left Toronto, and was yearning for the day she would travel all her life. She also thought about her mother. Ever since her father was killed in Afghanistan, her mother was suffering from a serious case of depression and was drinking a lot. Zanna decided to call her. She took her phone out of her pocket and dialed the number. The phone rang three times.

"Hello," her mother finally answered; "Is that you, Zanna?" Her mother had caller I.D, so she knew who was calling.

"Hi, Mom," Zanna greeted, trying to sound as cheerful as possible; "How are you?"

"I'm doing alright," her mother said.

"I got accepted into University," Zanna said. She suddenly felt better after telling her mother the news.

"Good, good," her mother replied, trying not to sound depressed; "At least one of my babies is on the right track."

"This is about Garrett, isn't it," Zanna sighed, assuming that her younger brother was still a juvenile delinquent; "What did he do now?"

"He got suspended for fighting in school," her mother grumbled.

"Again," Zanna exclaimed in exasperation; "He needs help."

"I know," her mother sighed; "But he just won't listen to anyone."

"Keep trying," Zanna suggested; "I'm sure he'll come to his senses eventually."

"I hope so," her mother replied.

"I have to go," Zanna said; "I'll talk to you later."

"Okay," her mother agreed; "Bye."

"Bye," Zanna said before hanging up.

Jan. 12th, 2012, 11:30 PM

She trudged down the sidewalk and turned onto Yonge Street. Suddenly, a car sped through a nearby puddle, showering slush and muddy water onto her. "Jerk," she shouted after the driver. As she dusted herself off, a strange flying object caught her eye. She looked up and saw a blue box flying at least twenty-five feet above her head.

"Oh my God," she exclaimed as it careened out of control and disappeared around a corner. A loud crashing noise followed. Zanna froze for a few seconds, trying to process what had just happened. As soon as reality set in, Zanna decided to go and investigate. She hurried around the corner and into an alleyway just in time to see a strange man scramble out of the box which was lying on its side with smoke rising up out of its doors. He was long and lanky with dark hair, green eyes, thin eyebrows, a wide nose, and a large, pointy chin. He dressed like a geeky college professor, right down to the bowtie and tweed jacket. He looked like he had to be in his late twenties. He looked shaken, but uninjured. Just to be sure, Zanna decided to go over and ask him if he was alright.

"Excuse me," she ventured, slowly approaching the man.

"Oh," he exclaimed, quickly turning around to face her; "Hello."

"That was quite a collision, man," Zanna said, raising her eyebrows; "You okay?"

"Oh, I'm quite alright," the man exclaimed adjusting his bowtie; "Hell of a landing."

Zanna looked at the box. "What is that," she wondered aloud.

"It's a nineteen-sixties telephone box," the man said.

"Last time I checked, phone boxes couldn't fly," Zanna said skeptically, narrowing her eyes. She looked back at the box. Just as the smoke was clearing, she was able to make out what looked like a control room. It was obviously much too big to be the inside of a phone box. "Last time I checked, phone boxes weren't bigger on the inside," she said, crossing her arms; "What's going on?"

"It's complicated," the man said.

Zanna decided to take his word for it. The situation was strange, and bizarre, and nothing seemed to add up. "Yeah, it sure is complicated," she retorted. "But can you at least tell me who you are?"

"I'm the Doctor," the man said, smiling at Zanna.

"Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor."

"Okay, Then," Zanna said, narrowing her eyes; "So you're a doctor, eh? And you also fly around in a box? Interesting."

"What's your name," the Doctor asked.

"I'm Zanna. Zanna Sterling," Zanna said, holding out her hand.

The Doctor shook it and turned towards the box; "It was nice meeting you, Zanna, but I need to get to work. My TARDIS really took a beating."

The what, Zanna wondered. There was an awkward silence. "This doesn't make any sense," she thought. "Some guy just falls from the sky in a blue phone box from the nineteen-sixties, and calls it the…TARDIS? Then he goes on to say that it took…..a beating?"

"From who," she finally decided to ask asked, raising her eyebrows.

"It's not important," the Doctor said to her; "I think you'd best be going home, before something happens."

"Like what," Zanna pressed, narrowing her eyes again.

"It's complicated," the Doctor told her.  
Zanna sighed. It was obvious that this man was not going to tell her about what really happened. "Alright," she said; "I'll be on my way now."

"Okay. Goodbye, Zanna," the Doctor said, smiling at Zanna before jumping through the doors of the box.

Zanna turned away and started walking home. She stopped abruptly when she heard a strange whooshing sound coming from behind her. "Vworrrp Vworrrrp," the noise went. She turned sharply, just in time to see the mysterious blue box, along with the man inside, vanish without a trace.

"This is weird," she thought; "A blue box just so happens to fall from the sky… there's a guy inside who calls himself "the Doctor"…and the box just vanishes right before my eyes…what's next? Aliens? Flying saucers? Meteors falling from outer space? This is crazy!"

Zanna shook her head and continued home. "How am I going to tell this to Echo and Luke," she wondered. "No," she thought, "I can't tell them this; they'll think I'm crazy." She entered the apartment building and trudged up the stairs to her apartment. Thankfully, she remembered her key that time. She unlocked the door and went inside. Echo and Luke had already gone to bed. "Good," she thought, relieved that she would not have to explain what happened. She was out for two hours. Much longer than usual. She quickly and quietly got dressed, climbed into bed, and fell asleep.

Nov. 14th, 2012, 7:45 AM

"So, who was that guy again?" a gravedigger asked his colleague, standing up and resting his arms on his shovel.

"What guy?" The other gravedigger asked.

"The guy that died," the first gravedigger replied, looking around at the vast, gloomy, scenery that surrounded him.

"Look at the headstone, Brainiac," his colleague retorted, forcing his shovel into the soggy ground.

The gravedigger looked at the headstone. Robert Christiansen, it read. "Oh, my God," the gravedigger muttered.

"What?" his colleague asked, standing up and looking at the headstone.

"Jack, that's my name," the gravedigger said.

Jack frowned at the headstone. "It's probably just a coincidence, Rob," he said, putting his hand on Rob's shoulder. "Nothing to flip out over." And with that, he went back to work, trying to penetrate the earth with his shovel.

"Hey, Rob, can you gimme a hand?" he called, looking over at where Rob was standing. But, Rob was not there. Instead, he saw a statue of an angel holding out his index finger at the exact spot where Rob used to be. Jack rubbed his eyes and looked again. This time, the angel was looking directly at him, with its hands out. Terrified, Jack turned around and began running through the graveyard, trying to get away from the angel. He stopped and looked around. No angel. He turned back, only to see it standing exactly one foot away from him, its teeth bared menacingly. Jack cried out in terror and began to run the other way. "Help!" he shouted; "Somebody help me!" Suddenly, he felt a cold hand grasping his wrist. He squeezed his eyes shut and prepared himself for his impending doom.

Nov. 15th, 2012, 10:30 AM

"Hey, Echo," Zanna called, holding out the newspaper. "Did you hear about this?"

"Hear about what?" Echo asked, looking up from her breakfast.

"A couple of guys went missing from that old cemetery downtown," Zanna explained, holding out the newspaper.

"Cool," Echo said, pretending to pay attention. "I have to go, so I'll see you tonight, ok?"

"Sure," Zanna said, rolling her eyes. She stood up, put the newspaper on the kitchen counter, and turned on the TV. Just a day or two before, there was a news story in the paper on how several people reported seeing something fall from the sky. Everyone was trying to figure out what it could have been, but Zanna knew what it was. It was the mysterious Doctor and his "TARDIS". She never did tell anyone, because she did not think that anyone would believe her. I'm cool with that, she thought, my own little secret. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing and she went over to answer it. "Hello?" she called, unenthusiastically.

"Hey, this is Keira," the voice on the other end said.

Zanna was surprised to be hearing from her younger sister. Keira never really called her very often.

"This is about Garrett, isn't it?" Zanna dared to ask.

"Well, I woke up this morning, and Garrett -" Keira began.

"Lemme guess," Zanna interrupted, "Garrett heard about the guys going missing from the cemetery and he wants to investigate."

"Yeah, pretty much," Keira said. "I called Caleb and Matt too, and they said that they'll be right over."

"Oh, this'll be good," Zanna thought to herself as she heard the mention of their older brothers. Her parents were the type of people who wanted a lot of children. She had two older brothers named Caleb and Matt, a younger sister named Keira, and a younger brother named Garrett. They were all born a year apart, with Matt being the oldest at twenty, and Garrett being the youngest at sixteen.

"I'll meet you there," Zanna said automatically.

"Typical Garrett," she thought, hanging up and going to get her jacket. She quickly got ready and headed over to the cemetery as quick as she could. When she got there, she saw that Matt, Caleb, and Keira were already waiting for her.

"Where is he?" Zanna asked.

"Down that way," Keira replied, pointing at the area where Garrett was standing.  
It's like the Wal-mart incident all over again, Zanna thought, as they began to walk towards him. When he saw them, he did a face-palm and mouthed something that looked like "oh, no."

"What are you doing here?" Garrett shouted at them.

"Garrett, you need to stop getting yourself into trouble," Zanna exclaimed. "Two guys went missing from this place a couple days ago. There could be muggers in there for all we know!" Zanna stopped for a second, thinking about what she just said. "It couldn't have been a mugger," she thought. "If it was a mugger, the gravediggers' bodies would have been found by now." Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed a statue out of the corner of her eye. Just then, it changed its position from crying, to standing upright and facing her and the others.

"Wasn't that statue crying a few seconds ago?" Caleb asked.  
They all looked at each other and looked back. The angel was now standing six inches away from them, baring its claws and teeth.

"Oh my God!" Caleb shouted.

The next thing Zanna knew, they were all running towards a fence on the edge of the property. Once they reached the fence, Caleb, Matt, and Keira clambered over to the other side. Before Zanna started climbing, she looked around and noticed that Garrett was not with them.

"Oh, for God's sake," Zanna thought. "I'll go and get him," she told her siblings; "You guys wait here."

She turned and ran back to find Garret threatening the statue with an aluminum baseball bat.

"Not so tough now, are ya," he jeered, preparing to swing.

"Garret," Zanna hissed; "Get over here!"

Garret turned and glared defiantly at his sister, then turned back to see that the angel was standing even closer to him than before. Garrett screamed and fell backwards in surprise.

Suddenly, Zanna realized how it was not able to attack them yet. It stayed perfectly still when at least one of them was looking at it, and it only moved when a distraction made them look away. "Of course," she thought. "Why didn't I notice that before."

"Garrett," she called to her brother. "I get it now. They only move when we're not looking at them."

"That's crazy!" Garrett exclaimed, distracting Zanna once again. They looked back and saw that the angel was now standing over Garrett, causing them both to cry out.

"Stop distracting me, you idiot!" Zanna shouted, trying not to take her eyes off the angel.

"Keep looking at it," a familiar sounding voice said. "Don't blink."

Zanna nodded, fighting to keep her eyes open. She knew exactly who that voice belonged to. The voice belonged to the same man she had spoken to three days earlier. That voice belonged to the Doctor.

"Don't look at its eyes. Look at the angel, but not at its eyes, understand?"  
Zanna nodded again, avoiding eye contact with the statue. "What is that thing?" she asked.

"It's a Weeping Angel," the Doctor told her. "Now what I need you to do; what I need you and your brother to do is run. I need you both to run as fast as you can, and don't stop until you are as far away from here as possible. Is that clear?"

Zanna nodded again.

"Good, now run," the Doctor said.

Immediately, Zanna and Garrett began running as fast as they could. Once they got to the fence, they climbed over to the other side where the others were waiting for them.

"Who was that?" Garrett gasped.

"Some guy I met a few days ago. Kinda weird. He calls himself the Doctor," Zanna explained.

"Really," Garrett exclaimed with mock fascination. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Oh, shut up!" Zanna exclaimed. "And now that we're talking, why in the freaking Hell would you decide that your own damn sense of honour was more important than your own safety? Would it kill you to use your common sense? Dammit, Garrett, I was worried sick!"

"I'm sorry, Zanna, I didn't think…" Garrett began.

"No you didn't," Zanna interrupted. "What you did was let your own stupidity cloud your judgment!"

"Don't call me stupid!" Garrett shouted turning and storming away.  
Zanna and the others watched him go.

"I'll catch up to him," Keira said, turning to leave. "See you later."  
Caleb and Matt followed her. They headed down the sidewalk until they got to the car they had driven to the cemetery in. Then they started the motor and drove off.

Zanna turned and started back to the apartment. As she walked, she thought of the Doctor. "This is the second time I saw him and I'm still at a loss as to what this is all about. Maybe if I look for him again, I'll be able to figure this out," she thought to herself. She trudged through the puddles on the sidewalk and crossed the street. She kept walking until she got to Yonge Street and came to the alleyway where she first saw the box land a few days before. She turned the corner and saw the box again, only this time it was no longer on its side, but standing upright. "Here we go," she thought, approaching the box and preparing to knock on the door.

"Zanna!" a voice called, startling her. She turned around to see Garrett frantically running towards her. "They're coming to get me!"

"Oh, for God's sake!" Zanna muttered, rolling her eyes. "What now, Garrett?"

"I ticked off some really bad kids," Garrett said urgently, stopping next to Zanna. "You gotta hide me!" He looked around frantically before finally trying the doors on the blue box. The doors opened and he ran in, dragging Zanna by the arm. "Shut the door!" Garrett shouted. "Shutthedoor, shutthedoor, shutthedoor!" Zanna did what he said.

"Didn't see that coming," Garrett remarked, noticing how much bigger the box was on the inside. Suddenly, there was a loud thump against the doors.

"You've really done it this time, eh?" Zanna said.

"Shut up!" Garrett hissed. They pressed their ears against the door. Another loud thump made them jump back in surprise.

"Get out here you little punk!" an angry voice shouted. It was Amber.

"Oh, God!" Zanna exclaimed. Amber was the same age as she was and succeeded in making high school a living hell for her. Amber and her posse were always picking on the other students. She had three friends, Trinity, Bree, and Dawn, and together, they terrorized almost every other girl at the school. There were always rumors going around about Amber keeping a gun in her locker. Zanna never thought that to be true, though. If Amber really had a gun in her locker, she would have been expelled.

Zanna heard another thump, as if the box was being struck with a baseball bat.

"I may have screwed up a little," Garrett said.

"Yeah, you screwed up a lot," Zanna retorted.

"Zanna, we don't want you. Just give us the twerp." This time it was Trinity.

Trinity was the one who never really took an interest in Zanna, most likely because she never saw her has much of a threat, or even much fun to bully. Most of the time, Trinity just left her alone.

"One would think that a guy would be more like this," Garrett exclaimed.

"Okay, that's just sexist," Zanna retorted. "What did you do to make them mad, anyway?"

"I shot at them with a paintball gun, threw eggs at them, and called them ugly," Garrett admitted, lowering his gaze.

"Paintball gun. Give it," Zanna demanded, holding out her hand. Garrett grumbled and handed her the paintball gun.

"Ammo?" Zanna demanded, holding her hand out again. Garrett handed her his backpack.

"Anything else in here?" Zanna wondered, opening the backpack. "Let's see now. Switchblade, spray paint, firecrackers, lighter, throwing knives, aluminum baseball bat, and what's in this flask?" Zanna wondered, unscrewing the top. She sniffed it and took a sip. "Cider," she said, licking her lips. "I think I'll just keep this backpack with me."

"Thank God he didn't bring that homemade flamethrower of his," she thought.

"Aw, come on!" Garrett whined.

Amber swung at the box a few more times before stopping all of the sudden. Zanna put her ear back against the door to see if she could hear what was going on.

"Oi! What the hell are you doing?" a voice demanded. It was the Doctor, and Zanna could tell that judging by the tone of his voice, he was not amused.

"Go home, all of you. Go on," he commanded.

Garrett jumped back. "C'mon, Zanna, we gotta hide!" he exclaimed, grabbing her by the sleeve and heading towards a railing. He quickly clambered over the railing and tried to drag Zanna with him, but she batted his hands away.

"Stop it!" she hissed. "Quit being immature!"

"I knew there was something in here that those girls were after."  
Zanna spun around and saw that the Doctor was standing six inches away from her. He had his arms folded across his chest, and he was eying her suspiciously. After taking a good look at him, Zanna realized that he was wearing different clothing. He no longer wore a brown tweed jacket and red bowtie, but a purple jacket and waistcoat and a patterned bowtie. "How did you two get in here?" he asked.

"I really just wanted to talk to you about what happened in the cemetery, so I decided to look for you, but then Garrett came running over saying that some kids were after him, so we hid in here." Zanna explained. "Do you usually leave the door unlocked?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"No, I don't," the Doctor told her. "I suppose she just let you in."

"So you're saying that the box is alive?" Zanna asked.

"Yes," the Doctor replied, raising his eyebrows.

Zanna smiled. "Well, in that case, I guess she just didn't have the heart to watch us get clubbed to death," she joked, laughing nervously.

"It's not funny!" Garrett shouted from beneath their feet. "They wanted to beat the crap out of me!"

"Yeah, and it's your own damn fault," Zanna retorted.

"Oi! Isn't that the same kid who was trying to take on that Weeping Angel?" the Doctor asked her.

"Yep," Zanna muttered, covering her eyes with her left hand.

"Always looking for trouble, aren't we," the Doctor teased, smiling mischievously at Garrett. From below, Zanna could hear Garrett start to grumble.

"Well, they're gone now, so I think it'd be best if you'd run along now," the Doctor told them, opening the front door on the left. Garrett clambered up over the railing and darted through the door.

"I'm keeping the backpack!" Zanna shouted after him and he ignored her.

Zanna watched as her brother raced around a corner and out of sight. After watching him leave, Zanna turned back toward the Doctor. "Can we talk for a minute?" she asked him.

The Doctor nodded and closed the door.

"Was that your brother?" he asked her. Zanna nodded.

"And I'm assuming that those are his things?" he said, pointing at the name written on the backpack's left strap.

"Yeah," Zanna replied. "I confiscated it off of him. It makes me nervous when he carries that kind of stuff around. He keeps getting into trouble. "It's really worrying the hell out of me." "Not really the subject I had in mind, but ok," she thought to herself.

"Just give him some time, and he'll most likely grow out of it," the Doctor told her.

"Do you mind telling that to my mom?" Zanna remarked.

"Do you still live with your parents, Zanna?" the Doctor asked.  
Zanna shook her head. "I moved out a few years ago. Just couldn't cope with my mom's depression. I feel guilty about it sometimes. I feel like I was being selfish back then." It was beyond her why she would tell all this to someone she had just recently met, but now that she was already talking about it, she decided to continue.

"What about your dad?"

Zanna's body went rigid. "He's…not around," she said quickly. Zanna's father was still a touchy subject for her, ever since he was killed in Afghanistan five years ago.

"Ah…" the Doctor responded. "Well, I hope things work out. Nice talking to you, Zanna." Zanna recognized this as her cue to leave.

"Sorry about the trouble we caused. It won't happen again," Zanna said, about to walk out the door.

The Doctor opened his mouth as if he was going to stay something, but then stopped suddenly as if something was wrong. He frantically yanked the door shut and rushed Zanna farther into the console room. Then he rushed back and opened the door just enough to peer through.

"No, no, NO!" he shouted. He scrambled over to the controls in the middle of the room and turned on the monitor.

"What's going on?" Zanna demanded.

"Oh, nothing," The Doctor exclaimed. "It's not like we've been teleported or anything."

"What?" Zanna screeched. She dashed over to the monitor and looked at the screen. The sight that greeted her was no longer an alleyway in Toronto; it was what looked like a control room of some sorts.

The Doctor turned and headed towards the door. "Now, Zanna," he said, turning around and pointing at her. "I'm going out to take a look. You need to stay put and not follow me. Understand?"

Zanna nodded. She reached into her brother's backpack, removed the baseball bat, and offered it to him, but he shook his head. "There won't be any need for that," he said.

"How do you know?" Zanna pressed. "They could be hostile."

"Violence doesn't always have to be the answer," he said. "Now come on. Don't look so nervous."

The Doctor was right. Zanna was nervous. There was most definitely a possibility of impending danger, and the Doctor was just going to waltz on out there?

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked.

"Absolutely," the Doctor said, cheerfully, reaching into his jacket and taking out an object that looked like a small, oddly-shaped flashlight. "Great! So he's just going to waltz on out there armed with a flashlight," Zanna thought, staring at the object in his hand.

"Now…" he began enthusiastically, patting her on the shoulder. "I'll be right back."

Zanna smiled nervously.

The Doctor stepped closer to the door and opened it while giving Zanna a reassuring smile. Then he stepped into the control room.

"Hello," he called, shutting the door behind him.

Zanna darted over to the monitor to see what was going on. For a few minutes, the Doctor just stood there, calling out to whoever could be around to listen. Soon, he was joined by a woman. She was tall and slender with long, black hair and pale skin. She was very pretty, but also very mean-looking. She stood imperiously with her hands resting on her hips.

"Hello, Doctor," she sneered indignantly.

"The Rani," the Doctor said, coldly acknowledging the woman. "It's been a long time since I've seen you last."

"You look young. Which incarnation is this?"

"Eleventh," said the Doctor. "You're looking youthful as well. How many times have you regenerated?"

The Rani ignored his question and instead changed the subject. "The last few times I saw you, you had companions," she said. "Do you have one now?"

"I'm here alone," the Doctor told her. "My companions aren't here."

"It's not like you, not dragging along one of those stupid apes from that miserable planet," the Rani sneered.

"Get on with it, Rani," the Doctor grumbled. "What do you want from me this time?"

"Can't it wait, Doctor?" the Rani questioned mockingly. "We have only just begun catching up."

The Doctor remained silent.

"Very well," the Rani said with a shrug. She raised her right hand and waved it forward. Almost immediately, two men shambled forward in an animalistic manner and grabbed the Doctor by his arms. Then, they dragged him down a hallway and out of sight with the Rani following them.

Zanna stood in front of the monitor, finding it difficult to understand what had just happened. "Incarnations? Regenerations? When the Rani spoke about a miserable planet, was that Earth?" Zanna shook her head. "That's not important right now," she thought. "What's important right now is that the Doctor is in trouble. Let's see…what should I do? The Doctor told me to stay put, but…..you know what? Screw it! I'm gonna go and help him!"

She removed her jacket, and scarf, so she would move more freely and pulled her hood up over her head. She decided to bring her brother's backpack with her, since it had just been made very clear that the people who captured herself and the Doctor were indeed hostile. When she was ready, she walked over to the door and slowly opened it enough to look around. All clear. She took a deep breath and walked through the doorway.


	2. Chapter 2

The Rani looked at the screen belonging to a small monitor that she was holding in her hands. "So you lied to me," she sneered. "You _did _have a companion with you."

The Doctor sighed. _Why is it that nobody ever listens to me when I tell them to stay put_, he thought.

"Too bad she won't be able to help you," the Rani said with a smirk. "I'll have to send the rejects after her."

Then she stopped for a moment to think. "Or, I could leave her for now, just to see what she does. Rejects," she called.

Two zombie-like men shambled into the lab. "I want you to keep an eye on the girl. Wait until she gets close enough to my laboratory, and then take her. Bring her here alive. I have just the experiment that she would be a perfect test subject for."

"Rani, leave her out of this," the Doctor said. "She didn't ask to be here. She's only here by accident."

The Rani scowled. "Just like that other simpering ape I had the misfourtune of reviving. What was her name? Cass?"

The colour drained from the Doctor's face.

"Oh, yes. That was her name. One of the only ones who came back right. Hated Time Lords. She was a tough one to break, but I was able to manage after a few months. It was a little psychological experiment I conducted."

"What have you done with her?" the Doctor demanded.

The Rani aimed a terrible grin towards the Doctor, sensing his discomfort. "She should have known that after refusing your help, she would end up with someone far worse," she boasted.

"If you harmed so much as a hair on her head, then I swear, I'll…"

"You'll what? Talk me to death? Give me one of your pathetic speeches?"

The Doctor said nothing, glaring at her with disgust.

"No? Right then. Time to get started," the Rani announced.

"Rani, stop this!" a young woman shouted, storming over to face the Rani. "You have my regenerations. Isn't that enough?"

"This does not concern you, Epsilon," the Rani said, waving her away.

"I don't care! You need to stop this!" Epsilon shouted, approaching the Rani and attempting to put herself between her and the Doctor.

The Rani grabbed Epsilon's wrist and twisted it, forcing her into a crouching position. "I'll deal with you later," she snarled. "Rejects," she barked. "Lock her up."

A man and a woman entered. They grabbed Epsilon by her arms and proceeded to escort her through the door. "You'll regret this day's work," she promised. The Rani ignored her.

"How many more have you got locked up here?" the Doctor demanded.

The same man and woman entered pushing a surgical table. The man proceeded to restrain the Doctor while the woman took a syringe out of her pocket and injected it into his neck. The drug took effect immediately, causing him to go limp. The rejects then lifted him onto the surgical table and fastened the restraints around his arms, legs, and waist.

"Alright," the Rani said, turning on a small machine near the surgical table and moving a cart holding surgical tools so that it was also within her reach. "Let's see how many regenerations you've got left."

...

Zanna looked around. Nothing. The room she had entered was completely deserted. _Come on,_ she thought, _where did you go?_ Then a doorway caught her eye. The same doorway that the woman and her goons went through with the Doctor. _Bingo_. She adjusted the straps on her brother's backpack, walked through the doorway and into a corridor. All the way down the corridor was a very large number of doors. "You've gotta be kidding me!" she hissed.

She approached the first door and opened it just enough to peek through. All she found was a table and chairs. In the centre of the table was a small globe on a stand. Curious, she walked over to take a better look at it. It was about a decimeter in diameter and gave off an eerie cyan glow. She reached out to touch it but then changed her mind, pulling her hand away and shaking her head.

Quickly and quietly, she left the room and tried another door. This door opened to reveal a brightly lit room with a small cubicle inside resembling a holding cell. In the holding cell was a woman. The woman had brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and wore what looked like a military uniform. She turned to face Zanna, eying her suspiciously.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Zanna Sterling," Zanna said. "What's your name?"

"Cass," the woman replied. "How did you get here?"

"I was abducted along with some guy I was with at the time," Zanna explained. "Just before it happened, he saved me and my brother from a monster that was attacking us. I followed him so that I could thank him properly but then my brother was being chased by some really bad kids that he pissed off and we hid in his box…vehicle….thing." Zanna frowned. _My God, I'm quite a blabbermouth today,_ she thought.

"Then what happened?" Cass pressed.

"Well, he came in, asked us why we were there, I explained our situation, and my brother left. But I wanted to talk to him for a little longer, so I stayed. We talked for a minute, and then I went to leave, but then we were abducted. I mean like the whole ship was teleported into her control room. Then he went out into the room and that lady and her goons showed up."

Cass nodded. "Go on," she said

"They started talking. Kind of like how you would talk to an old rival from high school. They told each other how youthful they looked…." Zanna paused, rubbing her forehead in confusion. "And they were asking each other how many times they…_regenerated_. Then she and her goons took him down this way"

All of the sudden, Cass seemed uncomfortable. She swallowed hard. "So that man…" she ventured. "Did he tell you what his name was?"

"He didn't tell me his real name. He just calls himself the Doctor," Zanna replied, sensing the other woman's discomfort.

"And the ship," Cass continued. "What did it look like?"

"It looked like a police phone box that they used in Britain during the '60s. My mom has a photo of one hanging up in the living room of her house. It was bigger on the inside too." Zanna said. Then she frowned. "Not my mom's living room, the ship, I mean." She corrected herself.

"Oh, God," Cass exclaimed.

"What?" Zanna ventured.

"I met him before," Cass explained. "Just before I died."

"Your turn," Zanna said smugly. "Tell me what happened."

"I was on a ship that was about to crash," Cass explained. "He just showed up all of the sudden. We ran to the back of the ship where he left his TARDIS. After I realized what he was I refused to go with him."

"Why?"

"I wanted nothing to do with his kind back then. The Time Lords were corrupt. He said he was one of the nice ones, but I couldn't have known that for sure."

"So you chose to die instead of being rescued," Zanna said.

Cass nodded. "And sometime after that, the Rani found me and used me for her experiment."

"And if you had gone with him, you wouldn't have died, and you wouldn't be here," Zanna said.

"True," Cass agreed bitterly. "But nothing can change that now." Then she looked up at Zanna. "So where is he?" she asked.

"Oh, he's in hot water. The Rani and her goons took him down this way," Zanna said urgently. "I need to find him." She was startled by the sound of a man screaming.

"It's the Doctor. I need to help him," Zanna said, frantically turning to leave.

"Wait, Zanna," Cass said urgently.

"What?"

"How do you know this isn't a trick?"

"He told me to stay in the box when we were abducted," Zanna explained. "I don't think he would have done that if he was in on this."

"I hope you're right," Cass remarked.

"Me too," Zanna muttered under her breath. "He's our best shot at getting out of here."

"I know where they could be. If you let me out, I can show you," Cass suggested reluctantly. She did not want to get involved, but the idea of going home was all too tempting.

"Okay," Zanna said. "But if you pull any bull crap on me, you're going right back. Got it?"

She reached into her pocket, pulled out a pocket knife and began to pick at the lock to the holding cell. After at least five minutes of jiggling the knife's handle, the holding cell opened, and without saying a word, Cass walked through the threshold and stood across from Zanna.

"Alright," she said calmly. "Come on."

They quietly walked down the corridor and stopped in front of a pair of metal doors.

"This leads to the Rani's lab," Cass explained, pressing a button on the left-hand side. The doors slid open, revealing another corridor.

"One would think that this place would be heavily guarded," Zanna commented.

"TARDISes are very big," Cass explained. "Too big for every area to be closely guarded."

"How long were you here?" Zanna asked.

"Six months," Cass answered.

"And you were in the holding cell for that long?" Zanna questioned.

"Yes, but I can remember from when I was first brought back. I'm just taking you back the way I came."

"You have a good memory," Zanna remarked.

"Thank you," Cass replied, smiling at Zanna. "Although I _have_ been out here a few times. At least until she realized that I had no intention of becoming her personal Igor."

When they came to the edge of the corridor, Cass and Zanna flattened themselves against the wall and peered around the corner. There was a parallel corridor with another pair of metal doors on the wall that was facing them. Just to the right, there was a vent big enough for a person to fit through.

"Alright," Zanna said. "Crawl through the vent." She began to approach the vent, but Cass grabbed her by her hood and pulled her back.

"They might hear us," she warned. "We need to come up with some kind of distraction."

"What for?" Zanna questioned. "There's no one here."

"The Rani tends to have the rejects patrolling around here, since it's where her lab is," Cass explained.

"Since we're on the subject of the rejects, what happened to them?" Zanna wondered. "Why are they all…y'know…" she waved her hand in front of her face.

"You know how I told you that she was able to bring me back after I died?" Cass asked her.

Zanna nodded.

"There were others she did the experiment on. Some only came back for a few minutes and then died, some didn't come back at all, and others merely became living corpses; lifeless shells of who they used to be."

"So she has zombies working for her?" Zanna questioned.

"Yes," Cass replied.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds before Cass decided to change the subject.

"So what kind of skills do you have that we can use?" she asked.

"I'm an experienced engineer. I've had experience in engineering since I was eleven years old and I've been practicing ever since," Zanna explained.

"Anything else?" Cass pressed.

"I also practice knife throwing in my spare time. It's just something I do for sport to relieve stress, but I suppose we can use that as well," Zanna continued. "What about you?" she prompted.

"I'm a pilot and an engineer," Cass answered. "And I'm also good with a firearm."

"Uhhh…if you still hate Time Lords, then we'll lay off the weapons for now. We're on a rescue mission," Zanna said, frowning.

"I guess I don't exactly hate them as much as I did back then. There was a war going on. A war that destroyed many lives, many civilizations. The Time Lords and another species called the Daleks were the most involved. No one could tell the difference between either of them when the war was at its worst," Cass explained.

"I guess I don't blame you for refusing to go with the Doctor. He could have been anybody," Zanna admitted.

Cass nodded before continuing with her story. "When the Rani brought me back, she showed me footage of the Fall of Arcadia and kept asking me if I was satisfied watching her people being murdered. It was horrible. All this time, I thought that all Time Lords were monsters, but the ones I saw being slaughtered by Daleks on the footage were just _people_. I guess that's the problem with war. You're too wrapped up in fighting to even consider that not every member of a certain race fits under the same label." Then she stopped for a minute and looked around the corner. She waved for Zanna to come closer and take a look as well. They both saw two rejects exiting another holding cell.

"Do you think the Doctor could be in there?" Zanna asked.

"Not sure, but it's worth a look," Cass replied.

Quickly and quietly, they crept over to the door to the holding cell and walked inside. There was a young woman sitting behind a force field. She had shoulder length, black hair, light green eyes, and pale skin. She looked like she had to be at least twenty years old. She was sitting very quietly, nodding her head as if she was listening to someone talking to her and giving her instructions.

"Epsilon," Cass called to her.

Epsilon looked up and jumped at the sight of the newcomers. "Cass," she squeaked. "How did you get out of your cell?"

"Have you met the new girl?" Cass asked facetiously. "She picks locks."

"Good," Epsilon remarked. "Now can she let me out?"

"_She_ is right here," Zanna said, taking out her pocket knife and tampering with the lock. "And the sooner we find the Doctor, the better."

"The Doctor," Epsilon repeated. "The Rani has him in her laboratory right now. She's going to extract his remaining regenerations like she did with me." She lifted her shirt a few inches to reveal a long scar on her abdomen. She stood up and walked over to join Cass and Zanna. "I'm Epsilon," she said, introducing herself to Zanna. "Pleased to meet you."

"Zanna Sterling," Zanna replied, shaking Epsilon's hand.

"Do you have your sonic probe?" Cass asked Epsilon.

"Yes," Epsilon replied cheerfully, waving the probe in Cass and Zanna's faces and flashing the cyan light on the end. "It wouldn't have worked in the holding cell, though. Everything's tamper proof in there."

They left the holding cell and began walking towards the entrance to the laboratory.

"Wait a minute," Epsilon said. "The rejects could be guarding the entrance from the inside. We need to come up with a plan."

"We could do something to lure them away," Zanna suggested. "I have some firecrackers in my backpack."

"Ah, but where are we going to set them off?" Cass questioned.

"In the TARDIS, there's a library, a wardrobe, and a storage room," Epsilon suggested. "And we can also put some in the ventilation system for good measure."

"Okay," Zanna said, nodding in satisfaction. "There's sixteen firecrackers in this backpack. We'll put four in each area."

They stopped immediately and hid around the corner when they saw a reject walking towards them. He saw them, but he continued to walk down the corridor.

"Where's he going?" Zanna questioned.

"Most likely to warn the others," Cass replied.

"So what do we do now?" Zanna asked.

"We run," Epsilon said.

"Where?" Zanna demanded.

"It doesn't matter," Epsilon said. "Just run."

They ran swiftly down the corridor before finally being cornered by the entire horde of rejects.

"Now what?" Cass demanded.

"We fight them off, that's what," Zanna exclaimed, pulling the aluminum baseball bat out of her backpack and swinging it at the nearest reject and knocking him to the ground.

"Fine by me," Cass said, elbowing another reject in the face and slamming him against the wall.

"Not what I was hoping for, but alright." Epsilon said. She grabbed a reject by the scruff of her neck, forcing her to bend over and kneeing her in the stomach.

Then, they were joined by a man who had fought his way through the crowd of rejects. Zanna was too distracted to pay enough attention to the newcomer to really see who he was, but she was able to make out a military uniform. From what she saw of him, he seemed to be excellent at hand-to-hand combat. He punched, he elbowed, he dragged, he shoved. The rejects kept coming, but he was still fighting them off.

Suddenly, a reject grabbed Zanna's arms and twisted them behind her back. She fought as hard as she could, but it was no use. "Okay, now I see why fighting may not have been the best idea," she shouted to Epsilon. But Epsilon was not listening. Instead, she saw the young Time Lady collapsing on the floor as a reject finished injecting her with a sedative. She looked around and saw that Cass and the newcomer were also being sedated. Finally, she felt a needle being injected into her neck. The sedative took effect immediately, causing her to become lightheaded. Her vision became blurry, her limbs grew weak, and she collapsed onto the floor. Then her eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out entirely.


	3. Chapter 3

Epsilon rubbed her eyes. The drug that was used on her made her feel groggy. She looked around. Everyone else was out cold. _That must have been quite a powerful drug to be able to work on both humans _and _Gallifreyans,_ she thought, massaging her temples._ I must know what it is called. Now, let's see who else is here, shall we?_ She was able to recognize Cass lying nearby. The two of them had a very rocky start in the beginning. Cass hated Time Lords, and therefore, hated Epsilon as well. Epsilon, in turn, found Cass' attitude to be rather disagreeable at times. But luckily, after six months had gone by, things had improved considerably between them. Cass had finally been convinced that not all Gallifreyans were evil, and in turn, Epsilon no longer referred to Cass as a stupid ape. Epsilon and Cass may not have liked each other very much after those six months, but Epsilon still considered Cass to be the most trustworthy person there was at the time. She remembered their first meeting like it was yesterday.

"Let go of me!" a woman screeched. Epsilon looked up from the book she was reading just in time to see the woman the voice belonged to being shoved into the holding cell with her.

"Hello," Epsilon greeted quietly, looking down at the woman.

"Who are you?" the woman asked.

"I'm Epsilon," Epsilon said, introducing herself.

"Cass." the woman introduced herself, nodding. "How long have you been here?"

"Twenty years," Epsilon replied, gesturing towards the tally marks that filled the entire wall.

"That can't be right," Cass commented. "You look far too young to have been here for that long, unless..." her voice trailed off and the colour drained from her face. "Stay back!" she shouted, scrambling over to he other side of the cell.

"What?" Epsilon demanded, spreading her arms out defensively.

"You're a Time Lord! A demon! What the hell are you doing here? You should be back on your battlefield!" Cass ranted.

"Oh, for crying out loud," Epsilon muttered. _Just my luck,_ she thought. _I've always wanted a cellmate and I'm stuck with this imbecile! _"Come on! I don't bite!"__

_"Go back and finish fighting in the Time War! I'll bet there's part of the universe left __standing__ with your name on it!" _Cass continued_. ___

"Right!" Epsilon exclaimed, slamming her book onto a bench and standing up to face her tormenter. "I've got news for you! The Time War's over, lady! Gallifrey's gone! My people are gone! If this is what helps you sleep at night, then have at it! What else do you want to know? Do you want to know the number of people who died in the Fall of Arcadia? Do you want to know how many of them were children? Do you know the names of all my dead friends and relatives? Do you want me to show you what my house looked like before it was reduced to a pile of rubble? Eh? If it makes you happy, then be my guest! Maybe we can have tea and biscuits while we talk! We can start any time!"

She stopped, expecting some kind of comeback, but Cass just stood there and glared at her.

Epsilon relaxed a little. "Look," she continued. "I understand that you may have had some bad experiences with my people, but what did _I_ ever do to _you_? As far as I'm concerned, this is the first time we've met. You don't know me, and you're already judging me. _Why?_"

No answer.

"So you're not even going to talk to me now?" Epsilon demanded. She felt her temper beginning to rise again, but this time, she was able to keep it at bay.

Cass held her gaze for a moment and then looked away.

"No?" Epsilon pressed with mock surprise. "Then I'll just get back to my book." And with that, she sat down and continued reading as nothing had happened.

There was an awkward silence between them for what seemed like hours before Cass finally decided to speak up.

"So what are you doing here, anyway?" she questioned reluctantly.

"Ask the old hag driving this thing," Epsilon retorted.

"You mean she kidnapped you?" Cass asked her.

"No," Epsilon retorted. "I just followed her into her TARDIS, waltzed into this exact cell, and stayed there for twenty years." Then she relaxed a bit. "Look. I know you hate my entire species, and me too by the looks of it," she ventured. "In fact, I don't think I like you all that much either."

"What's your point?" Cass demanded.

"I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you. Since it's fairly obvious that neither of us are leaving this cell any time soon, can we at least try to co-operate? It would make our stay here much more pleasant. Hell, we don't even have to talk to each other. It goes like this: you leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone. Savvy?"

Cass held her gaze for a few seconds. "Fine," she sighed, throwing her hands up in exasperation. Then she turned away and sat against the wall. Epsilon smirked and laid back on the bench, reading her book.

...

Epsilon laughed quietly as the events of the past six months played in her mind. Things actually improved since Cass showed up. Even though they did not get along very well, Epsilon reckoned that it was better than being lonely.

Then she looked to see who else was in the cell. There was Zanna Sterling. The young girl who wanted to rescue the Doctor. She seemed like a nice enough girl, although unmistakably bold and impulsive. Epsilon decided that she would definitely like to get to know her better.

Epsilon laid back down and closed her eyes, but then sat back up when she heard Zanna and Cass beginning to stir.

"What happened?" Zanna wondered.

"We've all been drugged," Epsilon explained. "You may feel a bit drowsy, but it's just a side-effect. It'll wear off eventually."

"I've got a headache too," Zanna remarked. She looked around. "And they took my stuff...er...Garrett's stuff which I took...except maybe..." she reached into her boot and pulled out a throwing knife she was hiding incase she lost the backpack. She threw it at a small picture carved into the padded wall. A direct hit.

"Good throw," Epsilon commented. "How long have you been practicing?"

"Five years," Zanna said. She then retrieved the knife and turned back towards Cass and Epsilon. "Is there anything you have that they missed?" she asked.

Epsilon searched her pockets and pulled out her sonic probe. "It doesn't work in the holding cells, though," she admitted.

Zanna looked around and saw a ventilation system in a far corner. "Hello," she remarked, approaching it and examining the opening. It looked just big enough for a person to fit through and the door was held shut by four small screws secured in each corner. Zanna got to work immediately, using her knife to remove the screws. "Ta-da," she gloated when she finally got the vent open."

"I wish our old cell had a vent," Cass commented. "We could have done this months ago."

They quickly crawled into the vent and turned a corner. After crawling for what seemed like hours, they stopped in front of another opening and peered through. They were able to recognize the Doctor slouching against a wall with the man who helped them fight the rejects earlier. After getting a better look at him, they noticed that he was not really wearing military clothing. He was wearing dark jeans, a white undershirt, and a khaki jacket. He looked to be at least in his early twenties.

"Sufferin' from a bit of post-procedure sickness, aren't ya?" the man commented. "You're just gonna have to take it easy for a while, I'm afraid."

"I recall going through something like that," Epsilon whispered. "It happened after she removed my regenerations. I was sick for days."

Their attention was directed back towards the Doctor and the strange newcomer.

"So what is your name?" the Doctor asked the newcomer.

"Dodge," the young man replied. "What's yours?"

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor said, grinning smugly.

"Doctor who?" Dodge questioned.

"Just the Doctor," the Doctor replied. "So, Dodge, do you live in Ireland?" he asked, noticing Dodge's thick Irish accent.

"I did," Dodge replied. "At least until I died and ended up here."

The Doctor stood up and approached the force field keeping them in the holding cell. He took out his sonic device and tried to scan it, but the device would not work. "Of course," he muttered. "The Rani created a dead zone."

"A what?" Dodge exclaimed in confusion.

"You know those plastic bubbles that people often seal themselves inside of just for the fun of it?" the Doctor began.

"Yeah," Dodge replied.

"Well, don't, because it's nothing like that," the Doctor said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "It's a small space generated so that any device, not just a sonic one, would not work. It's quite effective, really. It's like we're trapped in a bubble. A no-electronics-allowed bubble...thing."

"So, it is like those plastic bubbles," Dodge said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes...ah...no, I...shut up!" the Doctor stammered before raising a canteen to his mouth and took a swig of its contents.

"Take it easy!" Dodge complained. "That's all the water we have for today."

"Ah. Sorry," the Doctor said sheepishly. "The procedure had left me quite parched, and there's someone hiding in the vent." He looked over at the vent that Zanna, Cass, and Epsilon were hiding in.

Zanna and Cass jumped. "How did he know we were hiding in the vent?" Zanna questioned.

"It's not polite to whisper," the Doctor said, raising an eyebrow. He approached the vent and peered through the shutters. "Quite a mess we're all in, eh?"

"Yeah," Zanna said. "Now can you get us out of here? I can feel the heat coming on."

"Screwdriver's not working," the Doctor said. He checked his pockets and found that they were emptied out. "Oi! Dodge! Have you got anything to loosen the bolts? Something that can fit. Something like..."

"This?" Dodge prompted, dangling a Celtic cross pendant in front of the Doctor's face.

"Ah. Good!" the Doctor exclaimed, grabbing the pendant and using it to remove the screws.

After a few minutes, the vent opened and the girls stumbled into the cell.

"Alright," said the Doctor, clapping his hands together. "Time to figure out a way to get out of here."


	4. Chapter 4

The Doctor twirled around once, scanning the area in one go. "Bingo!" he exclaimed.

"What?" Cass questioned.

"While I was scanning our surroundings, I noticed one small detail: the force field keeping us in here is a type-three force field," the Doctor explained

"There are other kinds of force fields?" Zanna wondered.

"Of course!" the Doctor replied. "Just like there are other types of lamps and fruit-"

"And TARDISes," Epsilon interrupted matter-of-factly.

"Yes," the Doctor confirmed before continuing. "The Rani was always a very clever woman, but she was also always a very arrogant woman. Now the type-three force field is very dodgy, very unpredictable, but also very easily manipulated if you know how to do it. If it was hit with any sort of bullet or laser beam-"

"It would ricochet all over," Epsilon interrupted again.

"Oi! It's very rude to interrupt people while they're talking!" the Doctor scolded. Epsilon blushed and lowered her head in embarrassment.

"Right then," he continued. "This type of force field is very dodgy. It can be manipulated easily, like, for instance, if someone was to throw something sharp into it, it would disrupt the signal for enough time to get out. Now where will we be able to get something that can be thrown with enough force. Something sharp, something edgy."

"Like this?" Zanna asked, holding up her throwing knife before tossing it into the force field. When the knife reached the force field, it came to a complete stop, shattering it like glass.

"Alright, everyone," the Doctor said urgently. "Everyone out. Quickly."

They all dashed through the threshold, just in time to look back and see the force field correct itself.

"Now what?" Zanna questioned.

"We stop the Rani, find the TARDIS, and get ourselves out of here," the Doctor announced.

They headed down a corridor, making sure that they remained unseen by the rejects.

"Hope we're not in another one of those labyrinths eh, Cass?" Epsilon teased.

"Yeah," Cass said, laughing nervously. "I still don't know how she did it."

They stopped when they reached the entrance to the Rani's laboratory.

"Do you have a plan, Doctor?" Dodge asked.

"Well...no," the Doctor admitted.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Zanna questioned.

"We figure out how the Rani is reanimating people, and put a stop to it," the Doctor concluded.

They entered the laboratory and looked around. Epsilon headed for an jar on a table and activated her sonic probe at it to manipulate its opacity. The black metal turned clear to reveal at least eight packets of golden energy floating in water. Two of them had been used up, and she had not seen them in twenty years, but she knew that they were hers. She placed her hands on the jar and concentrated hard. Slowly, the packets dissolved and absorbed into her hands, travelling up her arms, and engulfing her entire body in a golden light before finally fading.

"Epsilon, some of those might have been the Doctor's," Zanna said.

"It's alright," the Doctor said. "They were hers. Now, apart from regeneration energy, what else does she use to revive people. He searched the lab and found what looked like several beakers filled with strange-looking chemicals.

"You know," Zanna said, trying to ignore the throbbing in her head. "The process could actually save people from dying."

"Yeah," the Doctor replied. "But it's a dodgy practice and it almost never works. Imagine trying to bring a loved one back to life and that person comes back as a zombie. It would be one hell of a reunion. Imagine dear old Gran coming back as a zombie."

"Brrrraaaaaiiiiiiinnnns!" Zanna joked, holding her arms out in front of her.

The Doctor took no notice of her, instead focusing on the mixture he was preparing.

"What are you making?" Cass wondered.

"It's an antidote that will bring the Rejects back to their natural state," the Doctor answered seriously.

"You mean back to being corpses?" Dodge corrected.

"Yes," the Doctor confirmed.

"But what would happen to Cass and Dodge?" Epsilon questioned.

"They were completely resurrected, so they'll be fine, as will everyone else," the Doctor told her. He finished the mixture and placed containers filled with the liquid, which was giving off a ghastly vapour, close to the vents. The vapour wafted through the openings and sure enough, they could hear a chorus of thuds overlapping each other as the reanimated corpses returned to their natural state.

"It worked," Epsilon said, raising her eyebrows.

"Of course it worked," the Doctor replied. "It's pure science."

They exited the laboratory and looked around. The ground was littered with Rejects, which were once again corpses. Epsilon took out her sonic probe and scanned them. "They're dead," she announced.

"Well, of course they're dead. They were dead to begin with," the Doctor replied.

Epsilon deactivated her sonic probe and held the tip against her chin as if she was in deep thought.

"Oh, you've got a sonic," the Doctor said cheerfully, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah," Epsilon said. "I built it years ago when I was...going through a phase." She blushed.

"It's good that you've still got it, because it just might come in handy," the Doctor said matter-of-factly.

"Sorry to interrupt, but what do you think the Rani will do when she finds out about the Rejects?" Cass questioned.

"I can't imagine her being happy about it," the Doctor replied. "But I'll have to convince her to stop this business for once and for all."

"Will she listen?" Zanna asked.

"Not likely, but it's worth a try. May be she'll have the sense in her. It's always good to give your enemies the chance to get themselves out of the situation willingly, rather then force them."

"And if she doesn't listen?" Dodge prompted.

"We'll have to stop her somehow," the Doctor answered. "But violence isn't the answer."

Suddenly, a wave of turbulence knocked everyone off balance. "What's going on?" Zanna shouted.

"Seems that the Rani isn't taking this well," the Doctor said. "She's disrupted the warp core! Quick! Everyone to the TARDIS!" He dashed back to the console room with everyone else following after him.

"What's going to happen to the Rani?" Zanna questioned. "If we take her with us, she might cause more trouble, but if we leave her, what will happen to her?"

"She'll be stranded in the Time Vortex forever," the Doctor answered. When they reached the console room, they found the Rani clinging to the console.

"Rani, come on! We have to get out of here!" the Doctor shouted.

"What? So you can lock me up like you tried to do with the Master?" the Rani demanded. "I'm not interested!"

"How do you know about that?" the Doctor questioned. The Rani ignored him, turning away and stumbling over to the railing.

"Doctor, come on!" Epsilon shouted, leaning on the TARDIS for support. Knowing that there was nothing he could do to convince her, the Doctor turned sadly and stumbled over to the TARDIS. He opened the doors and beckoned for everyone to follow. Zanna and Dodge dashed through the doors. Epsilon started to enter through the doors herself, but then turned to see Cass leaning against the console with a nervous look on her face.

"Cass, come on!" she shouted.

Cass shook her head, appearing to be deep in thought.

"Come on!" Epsilon screeched before calming down. "Either you come with us and have a chance of getting home, or you stay here and be trapped with the Rani for the rest of your life."

"I remember him," Cass said. "I was on a crashing ship. He came and offered to help me, but I refused."

"And now you have an opportunity to accept his help," Epsilon said. "I thought that over those six months, I was able to convince you that not all Gallifreyans were monsters. Please, Cass. Just this once, forget what we are and let us help you!"

Cass hesitated for a moment before looking back at Epsilon and dashing through the TARDIS doors. Quickly, Epsilon followed her. The TARDIS doors slammed behind them and the vessel took off.

The Doctor said nothing as he worked the controls on the console, instead avoiding eye contact as he flew the TARDIS. After some hesitance, Zanna opened her moth to speak.

"I'm...I'm sorry about the Rani," she stammered, placing her hand on his shoulder. She had trouble getting those words out. She always had issues comforting people and had trouble finding the right thing to say. She did not want to make him feel worse, so she kept it short, but at the same time, she felt awkward for saying so little and frustrated at how forced it sounded.

The Doctor said nothing, instead taking her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. He turned to address everyone else. "Now then, everyone. Where to? Home? Anywhere in particular?"

"I'd like to go home," Dodge said. "I know my family thinks I'm dead, but I'd like to see them anyway. Back home to Dublin in the year of nineteen eighty-two for me."

The Doctor nodded. "Home it is." Then he turned to Epsilon.

"I don't know," she said. "The Rani's TARDIS was the only home I had after Gallifrey was frozen. I don't know what will happen now. I guess I'll just go where the road takes me."

"Or you could come with me," the Doctor suggested. "It's been a while since I travelled with another Gallifreyan."

Epsilon perked up. "You really mean it? Oh, thank you! I promise I won't be any trouble!" She jumped forward and threw her arms around the Doctor, almost knocking him to the ground in the process. She quickly composed herself and took a few steps back. "What about Zanna and Cass? Do you think they might like to come?"

Zanna's jaw dropped. The idea of travelling through time and space seemed like the adventure of a lifetime, but she was not sure what excuse she would give to her family and friends. "If it's alright with the Doctor," she said.

"I don't see why not," he said. "But you'll need to behave. That means, no using those throwing knives for killing people, and none of that business with the metal bat."

"It's a deal," she said. "But I'll need to go home first to pack some things, make some excuses, and figure some things out. Can you come and get me at noon, November sixteenth, two thousand and twelve, in front of the Royal Ontario Museum? It'll give me an alibi."

"It sounds like a plan. So, I'll drop you off where we were before. Hopefully I'll land in the right place this time. If I don't it would just be embarrassing," the Doctor rambled.

Then he turned to Cass. "Where would you like to go?" he asked gently.

Cass thought for a moment. "If you don't mind, I would like to have a word with you. About what happened, I mean."

"Of course," the Doctor replied. "Just as soon as I drop these two off." He landed the TARDIS and flipped on the monitor. Dodge peered at the screen.

"Yep," he said. "Dublin, nineteen eighty-two. Just the time and place I needed." He waved goodbye and walked through the doors.

The Doctor flipped a few switches and pulled some levers on the console, flying the TARDIS to their next destination. The Doctor then turned the monitor back on and Zanna walked over to look at the screen. She nodded and walked out the doors. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said.

After Zanna left, the Doctor dematerialized the TARDIS and turned toward Cass. "Now, Cass," he began. "I know how you feel about the Time War and what my people had done, but just let me say that I'm sorry about what happened. And I'm sorry I couldn't help you all those years ago."

"I know," Cass said. "I guess I just need to get to know you before judging you."

"So, what do you want to do?" Epsilon questioned. "We can take you home if you want. Or we can take you for one trip, just for the sake of it, but if you're still uncomfortable with that, we'll take you home."

Cass frowned, thinking about the offer for a moment before making her decision. "I must be out of my mind. Alright, Doctor," she said. "One trip. Prove to me that you're one of the nice ones." 


	5. Chapter 5

Zanna patiently stood waiting for the TARDIS to arrive. The day before, she requested to be dropped off and then picked back up near the Royal Ontario Museum the next day. That way, she would have her belongings packed and an alibi to work with. When she heard the TARDIS land, she picked up the belongings she packed and headed over to where the sound came from. She stopped in front of the blue police box and looked around. When she was sure that no one was looking she opened one of the doors and walked inside.

"Hello," she called.

The Doctor turned away from the console to face her. "Oh," he exclaimed. "Hello. I see you've packed."

"Yeah," Zanna said. "I wanted to be prepared, y'know. Could be here for a long time."

"Alright then. Just head down the hallway and find a room," the Doctor said, directing his attention back to flying the TARDIS.

"Sure thing," Zanna exclaimed enthusiastically. She turned and headed through a door, nodding to Epsilon and Cass as she disappeared down the hallway.

The Doctor quickly circled the console, flipping switches, turning knobs, and pulling levers to his heart's content. Meanwhile, Cass was leaning on the railing and looking as if she was deep in thought. Epsilon shook her head when she recalled the Doctor introducing her to his TARDIS:

"You remember Cass, don't you, Old Girl?" he ventured. Suddenly, he frowned and his face turned a deep shade of pink.

"Oi! Watch your language!" he shouted. "Yes, I remember what happened, but now I'm trying to prove to her that I really _am _one of the nice ones. Oh, now come on, Sexy! Quit being rude!" After a few minutes of coaxing, reassuring, and stroking the console, he gave up.

Cass had remained silent ever since she joined them. Perhaps it was because she was coming to terms with her newfound freedom, or perhaps it was because she still resented the Time Lords deep down, and reserves of that resentment were beginning to show again; whatever the case, she needed alone time, and Epsilon decided to grant it to her.

"Cass," she ventured. "If you need some alone time, we could go and find the library. I was going to find my room anyway."

"No, thank you," Cass replied.

"Look," Epsilon said. "If you want to go home, we can take you right now. Nobody is forcing you to come with us. Just tell us where you live, and we'll take you there."

"No, it's just that...I've hated the Time Lords all my life, and then the Doctor tries to save me and I refuse and I die. Then there was that business with the Rani and I get stuck with you. And now here I am, with two members of a species that I'm supposed to despise."

"Then if all this is going on in your head, then why did you tell Zanna Sterling that you didn't hate us so much any more?" Epsilon challenged.

"I didn't want her to feel uneasy. I wanted her to trust me. It was perfectly clear back there that the Doctor was the only chance of us getting away from that horrid Rani. This is going to be difficult, Epsilon. Getting me to warm up to Gallifreyans isn't going to work overnight," Cass explained.

_Or over six months for that matter_, Epsilon thought to herself. "So do you want to come with us or not?" she asked, struggling to hold back her temper.

There was an awkward silence before Cass nodded. "I agreed to give the Doctor the benefit of the doubt, so I'm staying."

_She's not making any sense_, Epsilon thought with a scowl. _Does she hate us or not? Although, maybe I'm being too impatient. Maybe we need to give her more time._

Frustrated, she went to join the Doctor. "I don't know if this is a good idea, bringing her with us," she said. "She seems pretty torn about this."

The Doctor opened his mouth to speak, but then a wave of turbulence knocked them off their feet.

"What the hell was that?" Cass demanded.

"Ditto," Zanna remarked, entering the console room.

"I don't know," the Doctor said. He flicked the switch on the monitor and peered at the image on the screen. "Ooh, this looks interesting," he commented, beaming at the image.

"What?" Epsilon pressed, approaching the monitor to look at the image. On the screen was what appeared to be a dark corridor. "Where are we?" she asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" the Doctor said, raising his eyebrows. "We're on a ship. A sea ship, or an airship. Perhaps even a spaceship. Either way, we're on a ship, and by the looks of it, nobody had been on it for, oh, maybe about...I don't know, three years? Let's take a look. Girls, grab a torch, because we're exploring a ship!"

"But it could be dangerous," Cass protested. "It's probably been abandoned for a reason."

"That's one of the reasons I'm going to have a look," the Doctor said. "But perhaps the crew merely got bored and moved on. Happens to me all the time. _Or_...this ship isn't really abandoned after all. There could be something on this ship that either drove the crew away, or killed them. And there _is_ a chance that it has done this to _other_ crews on _other_ ships, and it could possibly move on to _more_ crews on _more_ ships if we don't stop it. _But_ there is still a chance that it could actually be friendly and the crew was just scared of it and left for that particular reason without realizing that it's _actually quite nice_. Right then. Time to have a look."

He and Epsilon each picked up a flashlight and exited the TARDIS. Zanna also grabbed a flashlight, shrugging to Cass on her way out. Cass hesitated for a moment before grabbing a flashlight as well and joining them in the corridor. The corridor was dark and cold. Puddles covered the ground because of the leaking pipes on the ceiling, and a quiet dripping sound and a smell of mildew filled the air. Epsilon was usually very brave and fearless, but at that time, she found the corridor that they were walking through to be very unsettling for some reason. Finally, they came to a doorway at the end of the corridor. The door was wide open, in fact, it was hanging off the bottom hinges.

"Looks like something very large tried to get out," Zanna said. "Something very large and very strong."

"Or in," Cass said, nodding towards their side of the door. Sure enough, the handle was broken, as if someone, or something, had given it a hard yank.

"Ah, but why would the door be bent like that," the Doctor questioned. "The door has to be at least seven feet tall, which would make the centre of gravity three and a half feet high, eight inches above the handle. If something very large were to grab the handle, the door would be hanging from the set of hinges at the top, so it must be something smaller, and yet very strong. But maybe, the thing that opened the door could be large, but in fact, opening the door while lying on the ground, rather than standing up."

"And by the looks of it, it was quite a struggle," Epsilon commented, running her fingers along a large claw mark on the corner of the door.

Suddenly, a large shape moved past them and fled down the corridor.

"What was that?" Zanna wondered aloud. "It looked like some kind of shadow."

"There's one way to find out," the Doctor said. "Let's follow it. Come on."


	6. Chapter 6

As they headed down the corridor, Zanna noticed that she had a throbbing headache. She raised her right hand to her face and began to massage the bridge of her nose. It had been getting worse ever since their encounter with the Rani. She was beginning to suspect that something might have happened while she was unconscious. She was beginning to remember certain things happening when she slipped in and out of consciousness. She could remember being strapped to a surgical table and given some kind of intravenous injection. That was all she could remember. She was beginning to wonder if she had also been experimented on like Epsilon, Cass, and Dodge. _Maybe when this is over, I'll talk to the Doctor about that,_ she thought to herself, massaging her temples.

Meanwhile, Epsilon was walking close to the Doctor and Cass. She could sense the tension between them. She Shivered. _Come on_, she thought. _Could somebody please say something? _Then,_ a_s if he sensed what she was thinking, the Doctor decided to speak up.

"So, Cass," he began. "How are you feeling so far?"

"I'm alright," Cass replied, shrugging. "I've been worse."

Suddenly, the group began to hear footsteps. "

"What was that?" the Doctor wondered, pointing his flashlight in the direction that the sound was coming from. He walked in the same direction and turned a corner. Epsilon headed after him, motioning for Zanna and Cass to follow. Just before they reached the corner, there was a great commotion and they heard the Doctor cry out, prompting them to turn the corner sharply to see what was going on. When they turned the corner, they saw the Doctor being hugged tightly by a man and a woman, both sporting ridiculously large grins and tacky, colourful clothing. When they noticed the girls emerging around the corner, they proceeded to give each of them the same treatment.

"Hello," the woman chirped. "How are you today?"

"Confused," Zanna answered bluntly.

"How did you get here?" Cass asked them, breaking away from the man, who still remained cheerful regardless.

"We're on a cruise ship, dearie," the woman answered, still grinning largely. "This is Deck Zero. The party's upstairs."

"We're all having a gay old time!" the man said.

Epsilon and the Doctor exchanged weary glances. She could tell that he noticed something was wrong. Something that had to do with the black shape that they were following only moments before.

"Why don't we go upstairs and meet everyone else, hmm?" the woman suggested. "We love it when we get visitors!"

"Oh, yes, of course," the Doctor said. "Let's go upstairs."

They followed the man and woman up five flights of stairs, finally stopping at the fifth deck. All of the lights were out. If they did not have their flashlights reflecting against the mirrors, the place would have been pitch black.

Zanna looked round and spotted the elevators. "Why couldn't we have taken the elevators instead of the stairs?" she asked.

"The power's out, honey," the woman said. "Nothing works around here."

"Then why are you so cheerful all the time?" Epsilon asked, raising her eyebrows. "Surely that must put a damper on things."

"We just are," the man said with a shrug. "Nothing could put a damper on anything!"

"Now, now, Epsilon," the Doctor said, feeling uneasy. "Don't insult their hospitality."

"Oh, that could never happen," the man said. "We're always happy."

"But why?" Cass pressed.

"Something came and removed all our negative emotions," the woman said.

"Could it have been that thing downstairs?" Zanna suggested.

The Doctor snapped his fingers and pointed at Zanna. "Yes," he confirmed. "It is possible. Because what kind of ship would have a monster living down where the engines are? Unless all cruise ships have monsters where the engines are and there's nothing to worry about, besides the power being out, and the creepy smiley people. But maybe it could be true that the creature is the type that feeds on negative emotions."

"So maybe what we need to do is do something to make the creature go away and then everyone would go back to normal," Zanna suggested.

"That could work," the Doctor confirmed. "But first things first, girls. We have a party to go to." He and Epsilon followed the man and woman down a hallway with Zanna and Cass trailing behind.

Zanna massaged the bridge of her nose, trying to get rid of the migraine that periodically came and went. She looked over and saw that Cass had her hand on her own forehead as if she had a migraine as well.

"You too, eh?" Zanna remarked.

Cass took her hand off of her forehead. "I just feel weird," she said. "Like something's inside my head."

"Why don't you tell the Doctor, then," Zanna suggested. "He might be able to help."

"Maybe," Cass replied, placing her hand back on her forehead and continuing to follow the Doctor and Epsilon.

Zanna stopped in her tracks. Her migraine was beginning to feel even worse than before. Her head throbbed. Suddenly, her vision clouded and she could very vaguely see a vision of a desolate wasteland with a city in the distance, overlapping what she could see in front of her. _What the hell_, she thought. Then the vision faded and she could see clearly in front of her again. _I'm going crazy_, she thought. _I must be completely out of my mind!_


End file.
